Sunday saw the final of the prestigious Stacey Shield Under 12 cricket competition, played between teams from Coota, Temora and Wagga Wagga in a home and away format. The Cootamundra representative side featured three local Harden juniors in it’s ranks, and they all played key roles in their team’s victory.
Coota had won the right to host Sunday’s game after finishing on top of the ladder, so on a warm morning, the Wagga team sent in the locals after winning the toss.
Harden’s James Woodhead got his team off to an aggressive start with some lusty blows. James’ downfall brought Mitchell Brown to the crease, and he soon put his head down and started to compile some runs for his team.
A middle order collapse after the first drinks break caused Mitchell to defend solidly, as the team crept towards a defendable total.
At the second drinks break, Mitchell was in sight of his first representative half century, needing eight more runs to reach the compulsory retirement score. The cheer from his team mates signalled him reaching 50 runs, and despite having to retire, he had guided his team to a respectable 9 – 111 off their 40 overs.
Wagga’s run chase began solidly, with the openers scoring at around the required rate. Wickets were hard to find for Coota, despite some tight bowling, and it took a spectacular one – handed catch from James Woodhead to break open the visitors.
At the 20 over mark, Wagga seemed to be cruising at 3 – 67, but when Coota’s George Harpley took 3 wickets from two overs, the tide had turned and the Coota boys lifted. Harden’s Tom Sharman bowled solidly for figures of 0 – 10, and kept wickets for Coota for much of the innings.
Mitchell Brown took 2 wickets in his second spell to take the game further away from Wagga. With the pressure mounting on Wagga’s batsmen, their final two wickets were lost after some excellent fielding brought about two run – outs, eventually falling 21 runs short of Coota’s total.
With his 50 not out and bowling figures of 2 -7 from 5 overs, the umpires presented Mitchell Brown with the match ball.
The Stacey Shield win was the Coota district’s first win in 17 years, and was a wonderful achievement for our local juniors who contributed much towards Sunday’s win and throughout the season.
